Hebrews 4:13b "...Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

missionary living

Good morning! There have been lots of things going on in our family, lots of "firsts" and for the most part, it is all just missionary living things..... for example, John actually let me cut his hair for the first time in our 14 years of marriage. Now, some of you might be thinking, "no biggie, my wife cuts mine and my children's hair all the time...." And that might be true of most of you; however, you are talking about a man who is pretty particular and has a phobia of his wife cutting his hair and a woman who has a phobia of bending ears.... yes, I cannot bend my own, let alone trimming by my husband's ears.... It is worse than fingernails on a chalk board. Yikes, I cringe just recalling the memory of having to bend his ears.... Anyway, I probably went too personal there, huh???

But, we have also had a "first" birthday for my son in Africa. He turned 9, and so I brought one of my "firsts" homemade cakes into his classroom.... and I giggle when I think about his classmates eating it as it crumbled in their hands, before it reached their mouths.... all I can say is Gus was gracious with me and the rest of his 3rd grade class was as well. We played a game on how well they knew Gus, being the new student and all, they did pretty well. There are no toy stores around, and his birthday kind of creeped up on us so we did what we could to make his birthday special. You know when there are moments that you look at your child, and you just feel proud of them. That is how I felt about Gus and his birthday. There was no complaining that it wasn't as fun as last year, and he even said that he loved that we got to spend all day together as a family. I love him!

Another first was Easter here in Jos, Nigeria. A missionary family invited us over for Easter lunch and it was great. Good fellowship, and good food. Actually, what I had to bring turned out horrible. You can see a pattern of my "homemade" cooking, not going so well. BUT, I can only get better. Instead of green bean casserole, we had green bean soup. My husband really loves me because as he realized how bad it turned out, he looked over at me and smiled and asked for seconds.... man, I love him too!! The minister spoke on how we are Resurrection people. Not people who live in the Friday, with fears and unknowns, but Sunday people who live and trust in a risen Christ, who controls all things. It really ministered to John and I as we sometimes choose to live in the Friday with fears and unknowns. Christ has risen indeed!

Overall, no big revelations, just living life as a missionary.

Learning how to cook from scratch, learning how to cut hair and celebrate events differently than what was in the past. Continued stretching of self to do things other than what comes natural. The neat part of "firsts" is after that there are "seconds" and then life starts to maybe find a rhythm again and then unnaturals become naturals and bending of ears is no biggie, my food actually becomes good, birthdays become events that have nothing to do with gifts and we grow and learn and live.

Speaking of seconds, I need to get ready for my second bible study on Esther with these women. I am really looking forward to it.

God Bless!

P.S. By the way, it has been fun for me to see my kids go to a missionary school. They are meeting people who are, for example, born in Canada and have lived the last few years in Switzerland and now are in Africa. Sarah, my oldest, said it feels normal to say we were born in the USA, have lived the last 4 years in Mexico and now are living here. My kids are are truly becoming "Third Culture Kids" and it is in the Lord's hands. I am learning and doing more and more research on it and there are pros and cons, but that comes with everything I guess. Just more missionary living stuff....

7 comments:

Oh my friend, cooking from scratch does get easier . . . it just takes a little practice. If you send me what you have available in terms of ingredients and cooking apparatus, I will see if I can find some "easy" ones - as I have many of those in my "personal cookbook".I have never cut hair either - so you are ahead of me on that :)Let us know how Esther goes!Praying for you all!

Did you bake a cake from scratch? Holy cow - you are amazing. Way to take it all in stride. I too have some good recipes with little ingredients if you want some. Chad and I were just saying how we miss simple living - I know you are stlll getting acquainted with everything there, but I so appreciate that you don't sweat the small stuff (which to me is BIG stuff). I'm looking forward to continuing to follow you guys there and be encouraged by your will to just make it happen despite your circumstances...lack of "boxed" shells and white cheddar and cooking supplies and wrapping paper and toys...love you, friend.

I love you Corrie. You are going to have us all living simplier if you don't watch it. God has me disciplining a teen here and I sure could use you help and encouragement. Do we get to see picture of John's hair. Just don't forget to put the guard on the clippers like I did once, opps. Kinda says it all really. Easter was different without you. Miss you.

hey great blog, as always! sounds like God is stretching you and growing you in many different areas... oh exciting (well, maybe not always on the surface!)! but it is sounding like before long i am going to need to send you a real chef's jacket! and no worries about the cooking... it gets all of us at times! for easter dad and i were making a gourmet 4 course meal when we realized that he had filled the sugar canister part of the way up with salt, making everything we made expecting to use sugar for unedible! so, at least your cake was edible... mine had a cup and a half of salt in it so it said hello to the garbage! ok, miss you bunches but still lifting you up in prayers! -kath